


Don't care 'bout my Bad Reputation

by Insecuriosity



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Character Study, Gen, Underfell Doggo (Undertale), Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Underfell Sans (Undertale), the Dog family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:01:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27877266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insecuriosity/pseuds/Insecuriosity
Summary: Every monster in Snowdin knew that between the two Skeleton Brothers, Sans was the soft one. He never dusted anyone, always hid behind his brother’s legs like a coward, and had the stats of a newborn whimsun. The only reason nobody had dusted him yet was because only Sans could extract some mercy from Papyrus.It was goddamn hilarious, how wrong they all were, but Sans wasn’t about to correct them.
Comments: 20
Kudos: 108
Collections: I Bet You Weren’t Expecting THIS (character to be so badass)





	Don't care 'bout my Bad Reputation

**Author's Note:**

> Ask to tag/accepting suggestions for tags that suit this story

“SANS.”

Sans jerked awake and scrambled to stand at attention, his eye already flaring with magic. Papyrus was using his business voice. Which meant that either they had an audience, or-

“WE HAVE A NEW GUEST!” Papyrus rasped. 

Or some idiot had fallen into one of his traps. Sans leaned to the side, and squinted at the wheezing pile of fur that Papyrus had been dragging behind him. The snow was stained a light grey. 

Sans forced the grin on his face to go wider. “ayy, nice goin’ boss”, he mumbled, “i’ll go ‘n hop over to the shed. make sure they get an _ice_ reception.” 

“IT’S A _DUNGEON_ , SANS.” Papyrus didn’t so much at twitch at the pun, and Sans let his smile droop. It was one of those days, huh? Damn. “AND I ACTUALLY WON’T BE NEEDING YOUR HELP TODAY. I CAME HERE TO TELL YOU THAT I NEED YOU TO RUN MY PATROL FOR ME WHILE IM… BUSY.”

The pile of fur shuddered in the snow, and a pair of black eyes peeked up at Sans fearfully. It was impossible to tell which one of the dog monsters it was – nearly all of them had white fur, and Papyrus’ trap had destroyed the dog’s armour, so it could be any of them.  
Their eyes were huge and shimmering, and their pained whines took on a distinctly pitiful pitch – engineered to be as sad and helpless as possible. At the very least, it was smart enough not to beg with words, but Sans could still clearly understand what it wanted. Mercy.

Everyone in Snowdin knew that between the two Skeleton Brothers, only Sans had Mercy. Only Sans could stop Papyrus from dusting whoever he wanted, however he wanted. ( Sure, Papyrus obeyed Undyne and Asgore, but the Captain of the Guard and the King were more likely to help Papyrus with dusting than to order him to a halt. )  
It was useful, in a way. It meant that the small fry monster families were always schmoozing him with gifts and G. Trying to build some kind of rep, so that if one of their family members happened to land in Paps’ shed, they could depend on Sans to try and get em out safe. 

It was goddamn hilarious, how wrong they all were, but Sans wasn’t about to correct them. 

“uh, you sure?” Sans muttered before he thought the better of it, and he scrambled to rectify his mistake, “i-i mean, of course you won’t, Boss. i’ll take your patrol, sure.”

“I WASN’T ASKING, BROTHER.” Papyrus replied, his eyesockets narrowed dangerously, “YOU ARE GOING TO PATROL. AND I HAD BETTER NOT SEE A HAIR OF YOU BEFORE THE PRISONER IS **DUST**.”

“so, like what, i gotta patrol for the next two years?” Sans hadn’t realised that he had said that aloud until one of Papyrus’ gloved hands was holding him up by his vertebra. It didn’t hurt. The intent to harm wasn’t there, but Sans knew his role. He stiffened, and let his eyelights dim into nothingness.

Papyrus lowered his voice to a whisper– a feat that most monsters didn’t believe he was capable of – and dragged Sans in close enough that his teeth nearly touched Sans’ cheekbones. 

“…Please, Sans,” He whispered, and Sans already felt his arguments crumble. “I’ll get it this time.”

“…ok,” He mumbled back, and a moment later he was released from Papyrus’ grip – plopping hip-bone first into the snow like a bony bag of popatoes. 

“GOOD. NOW THAT THAT’S SETTLED, I WILL BE OFF!” Papyrus said, and he finally managed a smile – though it looked more like he had accidentally bitten into a handful of sand and was trying to tough it out, “YOU HAD BETTER PICK UP A DUSTPAN ON YOUR WAY BACK HOME, THERE WILL BE A LOT TO CLEAN ONCE YOU GET BACK! PERHAPS EVEN MORE THAN ONE PILE, NYEH! NYEHEHEHEH!” 

“i’ll make sure i’m, heh, _maid_ for the job,” Sans replied, and he quickly rolled out of the way before Papyrus’ boot could kick him into a pile of snow. It wouldn’t hurt – but he hated it when the fur on his jacket got soaked. 

“SHUT UP AND GET GOING! I’M SUPPOSED TO BE CHECKING IN AT DOGARESSA’S STATION IN TWO MINUTES!” Papyrus whirled around and stalked back towards Snowdin, dragging the lump of dog behind him.

The dog growled angrily as Papyrus dragged them over a rock, and Sans caught sight of their broken teeth still trailing dust. Heh. They must have tried to catch one of Papyrus’ attacks with their mouth. Huh. Weird how all the dogs thought that they could just bite a bone attack. Maybe it had something to do with Sans throwing his weakest bone attacks at them in pretend-fear whenever they postured at him…? Nah. Probably unrelated.  
Sans straightened his jacket and started walking Dogaressa’s guard station, stepping past Papyrus’ traps with an ease that spoke of years of practice. For all that his skull smiled on its own, Sans was having a difficult time to keep it as broad as he usually liked. 

He was going to come home to a mess alright, but not the kind that could be fixed by a dustpan. 

-

Sans took his time to finish up work. He showed up late at every guard station, and stuck around for a ‘chat’ at every one of them, until the guards were pissed enough to start attacking him. He took a nap at his station, and checked his watch. 

Four hours. That should be enough time.

He stood up and stretched, groaning at the morbid-sounding pops coming from his spine. It was a real pity that there were no other monsters around to wince at the sound. To the non-skeletal folk, the sound of a popping spine was eerily familiar to someone’s limb being snapped in half, and every monster alive had direct experience with how that felt. Sans loved to stretch at Grillby’s, where people were at their most relaxed, and watch as they flinched out of their illusion of safety.  
He stepped behind one of the trees, slipped a little through the cracks of the world, and appeared from behind the Snowdin entrance sign. Still graffitied with crude curses and imagery of a soul being hacked in two by a crudely drawn axe. 

There were not many monsters outside, and it wasn’t just because of the late hour. Papyrus’ guests tended to… make noise, when he ‘entertained’ them, and while there were a fair number of sadists in the Underground, nobody could stomach four hours of screams at a time.  
Sans shuffled up to the shed, and pressed his skull against the dented sheet metal. The endless snow cushioned sounds, and the wind never rose above a wispy sigh, so it wasn’t hard to hear the wet rasping breaths coming from inside the shed. Sans shuffled to the side, and pressed an eye to the gap between the door and the wall, charging his eye with magic to provide some light. 

The dog was still alive, and trembling like a leaf. There were bones pierced through them at every angle, pinning them to the concrete flooring, and a stack of Tupperware containers sat to the side. Papyrus’ Lasagna. Sans could smell it from where he was standing – Papyrus must have emptied out his side of the fridge. 

“aw fuckin’ crap,” Sans muttered. He pulled away from the shed and slipped into the house. 

The lights were off, and the kitchen was sparkling clean where it should have had Papyrus, working on his lasagna. Sans walked up the stairs, and carefully unhooked the tripwire for Papyrus’ doortrap. It was still the original design, from when he had just started building traps, and Sans doubted it could hurt him even if he tripped it. He rapped a knuckle on the door. 

“paps?” 

“GO AWAY SANS,” Papyrus’ voice was even raspier than usual, and Sans caught the hitch in his breath at the end of his name. 

Sans walked inside, and closed the door behind him. Papyrus was lying face down on his bed, his gloves and boots lying in a crumpled pile in the corner, and his nightlight the only source of illumination in the room – ( a plastic bunny with a little light inside that Papyrus had drawn fangs and claws on with a black marker.)

“ye, you know i’m not leavin’ you when you’re like this,” He said, and he dropped himself backwards onto Papyrus’ legs. 

Papyrus’ voice rasped, and Sans only knew it was a sob from experience. Sounds of weakness weren’t common in the Underground. They only drew in monsters that were on the prowl for easy EXP. Monsters only cried near people they trusted with their very SOUL, or when all hope was lost, and their only chance at survival hinged on a strong monster taking pity on them. Sans closed his eyes, and pretended he couldn’t feel the shocks of Papyrus’ sobs through his bones. 

“… I COULDN’T DO IT,” Papyrus choked out, “I COULDN’T-… I THOUGHT-…” 

Sans waited. There was really nothing he could say to make things better. _‘I told you so’_ was a dick move on the best of days, and _‘you don’t have to dust anyone if you don’t want to’_ was just a lie that was going to get his brother killed if he believed it. 

“I HAD EVERYTHING PLANNED OUT. THE SHED WAS READY – MY ATTACKS WERE EXTRA SHARP – I DIDN’T LET LESSER PUPPER HEAL-…!” Papyrus punched his matrass. The force of it was barely enough for Sans to feel from where he was resting on the back of Papyrus’ legs. “S-SHE WAS ONLY ON 4 HP, AND I HIT HER WITH MY BONE-SPEAR AND SHE-!” 

“-got stuck on 1 hp,” Sans finished. That always happened. The monsters of Snowdin ( and the rest of the underground who had no idea what Papyrus was like behind closed doors ) always assumed it was because of ironclad control, paired with a sadistic desire to prolong the ‘fun’. 

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND, SANS.” Papyrus said, the rasp in his voice being overtaken by the nasal whine that only ever came out when he was too distressed to keep up his usual act. “MY STATS – MY ATTACK IS 24, AND MY BONE SPEAR GIVES ME PLUS 5! LESSER PUPPER ONLY HAD A DEFENCE OF **_1_**! I SHOULD HAVE… THAT ATTACK SHOULD HAVE DUSTED HER!”

“uh-huh,” Sans nodded. Should have, could have, would have. He had explained importance of intent during battle so many times that he got bored just thinking about doing it again. It never helped. 

“BUT IT DIDN’T! SHE WAS STILL THERE, AND S-SHE WAS CRYING – AND I COULDN’T… I COULDN’T ATTACK AGAIN, NOT WHEN SHE ONLY HAD 1 HP. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN SERIOUSLY UNCOOL. BUT I COULDN’T GIVE UP EITHER – I CAN’T GIVE UP-…!”

“so you got the lasagna?” Sans filled in when the silence lingered for a little too long. 

“YES. I GOT THE LASAGNA FROM THE FRIDGE,” Papyrus choked out, his voice muffled from the pillow he was trying to bury his skull in, “I FED IT TO HER TO GET HER HP BACK UP TO 50, AND I THOUGHT I COULD DO IT IN ONE HIT IF I JUST HIT HARD ENOUGH.”

Sans hummed. The dog back in the shed was still alive – he already knew how this story ended. He’d known as soon as Papyrus had woken him up a couple hours before, with a new victim dragging behind him in the snow. “didn’t work huh?”  
His unspoken, sarcastic _’what a surprise’_ must have sounded in every word – because Papyrus flung himself out of bed with enough frustration that the bone attacks around his room started to rattle with frustrated magic.

“SHUT UP AND GO AWAY IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE SO-… SO UNSUPPORTIVE!” He screamed, “I NEED THE STATS, THE LV! EVERYONE IS SLOWLY GETTING STRONGER AND STRONGER AND I CAN’T KEEP UP – AND EVERYONE THINKS I’M SO MUCH STRONGER THAN I AM!!” Sans was fairly sure that even the soundproofing magic around the house couldn’t completely keep the volume contained. As long as nobody could actually understand the words being said, it was fine.

The entirety of Snowdin lived in fear of the Great and Terrifying Papyrus, and Sans would hate for Paps’ reputation to take a hit. 

He paced back and forth, in that heel-first ‘angry Undyne’ of fashion that made the whole house tremble with each step. “AND EVERY TIME I TRY TO D-d…TO _PRACTISE_ , YOU END UP SETTING THEM FREE, OR DUSTING THEM YOURSELF! I WORK HARD ON MY TRAPS, I SHOULD-… I DESERVE THE EXP THAT COMES FROM THE MONSTERS THAT FALL FOR THEM!”

“sure,” Sans agreed placidly, “lesser pupper’s still in the shed. wanna go dust her right now?”

Papyrus froze, and so did his attacks. In the absence of his harsh footsteps, seething magic, and rasping shrieks, it felt as if Sans had abruptly gone deaf. 

“I… RAN OUT OF LASAGNA,” Papyrus said after a pause. 

“huh. didn’t know you needed lasagna to dust people. my pasta-experience tells the opposite story.”

“…” Papyrus said nothing, but judging from the defiant flare in his eyesockets, he wasn’t ready to give up yet. Though the glare could have just been from his pun. 

“why don’t i just drop lesser pupper off at grillby’s, or in the snow or whatever, and we try again with the next guy that gets trapped?” Sans offered, “i won’t take the exp, and you can bake more lasagna for next time. sound fair?” 

“MM…AND LESSER PUPPER WOULD NOT HAVE TO SPEND THE NIGHT IN OUR SHED.” Papyrus frowned, “THIS-… IT WON’T HURT OUR REPUTATION IF WE LET HER GO, RIGHT?” 

Sans nearly chuckled, and managed to turn it into a snort just in time. “nah. n even if it did, everyone in town is a big weenie. it’d take way more acts of mercy to make em think you’ve gone soft”

“OH, THAT’S GOOD.” Papyrus’ shoulders were slowly relaxing, and his fanged skull was starting to twitch towards its usual smile again. “… AND IF LESSER PUPPER IS FREE, I CAN FOREGO SOME OF THE LASAGNA MAKING AND DO SOME MORE ACTUAL TRAINING!”

“now you’re seeing the pasta-bilities,” Sans winked.

Papyrus threw a glare his way, but Sans could finally see the corners of his mouth tick up. “YOU SHOULD FIND SOME NEW MATERIAL BE-FLOUR YOU START GETTING REPETITIVE.” 

Sans grinned – any day where he got Papyrus to join in the punning was a day to be remembered. “you know better than any other monster that pasta never gets old.” 

“BUT IT CERTAINLY GROWS STALE, ESPECIALLY WHEN ITS EATEN MORE THAN ONCE.” Papyrus said proudly, before he stopped and pulled a face, “OKAY, THAT METAPHOR JUST BECAME DISGUSTING ENOUGH TO JUMPSTART MY DESIRE FOR CLEAN HANDS. OFF TO THE SINK!”

“don’t let it in.” Sans joked, and he slid off Papyrus’ bed.

“WHAT? UGH. SANS…” 

“hey, you asked for new material” Sans followed his brother out of his room, and squinted against the living room lights. “i’m gonna go ‘n release lesser pupper”

“I WOULDN’T HAVE ASKED FOR NEW MATERIAL IF I HAD KNOWN YOU WOULD EXCLUSIVELY SPEAK IN PUNS AND YOU KNOW IT.” Papyrus rasped back, “AND COME BACK HOME RIGHT AFTER! I WILL BE VERY CROSS WITH YOU IF YOU STICK AROUND AT GRILLBY’S!”

“how can you be cross when you’re already a square?” 

“ARRRGHH!” 

-

Sans stepped out of the house, and leaned against the door – relishing the quiet peace of Snowdin for a moment. In the shed, he could hear Lesser Pupper whimper softly, and there were several trails of dog-paws in the snow around the entrance. 

He ducked into the space between the house and the shed, and ambled out of Grillby’s storageroom a second later. The usual crowd was there, sitting in the same old places. The Dogs, for once, weren’t playing a game or growling over the last burger patty. They were waiting for him. 

“Sans!” Doggo exclaimed, his tail wagging so earnestly that it couldn’t be anything but a lie. Doggo didn’t wag his tail for anyone but his family. “Old Buddy, why don’t you come and have a drink? And a Meal? On us.” 

Sans drew up his shoulders, and hid away in the faŭ fur on his jacket. “uh, i’m not sure that’s … a good idea right now.” 

Doggo’s tail stopped wagging, and Greater Dog’s little rumble of worry turned into a big rumble of anger. “Sans, just get over here. Grillby? Two burgers with extra mustard, and a side of fries please.” 

Sans shuffled over, but didn’t sit down, playing up his anxiety as best as he could. “i’m, uh, this about lesser pupper? it’s… the Boss is really not in a good mood right now, so, uh- i’d rather not set him off-…”

“I’m sure we can find something that’ll make up for whatever Papyrus does to you,” Doggo said flippantly, “He never puts you in the dungeon anyway,”

“And you’d dust if he tried regular discipline, you brittle little leech,” Dogamy growled, “whatever you think ‘punishment’ is can’t compare to-” He cut himself off with a pained yelp, and sent a betrayed growl at his wife. Dogaressa, as usual, didn’t speak, and simply let her snarl do the talking.

“fuck you guys, s-see if i risk my skull for that bitch if you’re gonna insult me-” 

“Sans – Sans, friend, buddy,” Doggo interjected quickly, “just… sit down, have some food, and then we can talk offers, okay?”

Sans pretended to hesitate, and used the time to glance around the room. Other monsters around the bar were listening in, trying to look as if they weren’t interested. Some of the more sympathetic ( read: weak ) monsters were present too, maybe hoping to get a favour out of the dogs if they helped them to get Lesser Pupper back.  
Grillby arrived, and set down the burgers, mustard, and fries. Generous portions, and as fresh as they came in the Underground. Sans didn’t miss that the bill was about fifty G higher than it should have been either. 

Greater Dog rumbled and attempted a friendly tail-wag, even as Doggo offered one of his fiercely guarded dogtreats and a lighter. Dogamy, Dogaressa and Lesser Dog were avoiding his gaze – an unspoken agreement that, in this case, Sans had all the cards. 

“… ok.”

-

It really was funny, how people thought Papyrus was the boogeyman between the two of them. 

Papyrus was naïve to a fault, even after growing up in the underground. Sans couldn’t even tell if he understood just how terrifying people found his dungeon – the prospect of being brought to 1 HP, over and over, only held up by the contents of a tomato-sauce stained Tupperware. Papyrus thought of it as training to become stronger, a way to get the LV he could never get otherwise. Could probably never get, period. Paps was too soft for the Underground.  
As much as he ‘trained’ himself to kill, Sans knew that he hated the very thought of it. To the point that he could strike someone who was hanging on by 1 HP, and do no damage at all – on the sheer force of his distaste for killing. It was a really weird thing to watch. The determination and malice in his expression, the intense focus, and then the moment where it all fell apart – and he just looked heartbroken. 

It was a mess every time. And not the dusty kind of mess, but the ‘Papyrus is sitting in the dark crying again’ kind of mess. The kind of mess that turned his terrifying brother with formidable self-trained stats into a sad lump of free EXP. 

So, Sans ‘saved’ monsters from his brother whenever he could. Walked past the traps, fished some of em out after extracting G or favours, killed the rude ones for EXP, and left Papyrus to get the reputation boost. The monsters in Snowdin treated Papyrus like he was an unstable Undyne, and they buttered up Sans in between the many digs at his low HP and weakness.

Lesser Pupper was unconscious when he entered the shed, which explained why she was audibly whimpering, rather than enduring in silence or growling defiantly. It was a relief – the whole ‘weak and helpess’ act really wore on him after a while, and he’d really played it up tonight. The Dog family had a lot to trade, and Sans had wanted to make sure that he’d con them out of as much as they were willing to let go.  
It was likely that at least _some_ of the promised G would never arrive, but that was a given with any deal in the Underground, and Sans was happy with just a fraction of what the Dogs had promised him. Royal Guard-quality healing kits, a set of cameras and monitoring equipment from the Royal scientist, a couple passwords some of the shops protected by a gang. A truckload of G, and of course, free dinners for a year. (Sans gave it three weeks before they would stop honouring that deal, but whatever.) 

He dispelled the blue bones that were pinning Lesser Pupper to the floor, and wondered if it was worth it to drag the sorry sack of fur to the door. He settled on nah. The dogs had paid him to let Lesser Pupper go – no one said that he’d have to hand deliver them anywhere. He shrugged, and slammed the shed door behind him as he left, making sure it bounced back open instead of closing properly.  
The whimpers had stopped, and Sans lingered on the front porch of the house until he could see Lesser Pupper drag her body towards the trees, where Lesser Dog was pretending to be interested in a bush. 

Mission accomplished. He ducked back inside the house, and found Papyrus on the couch, polishing the shining red leather of his boots. The oven in the kitchen was humming, and the smell of fresh lasagna was permeating everything. Maybe he’d be able to sneak a piece before Papyrus set it aside – as a general rule, it was for wounded monsters only, and Sans hadn’t gotten hurt in a very long time. 

“so, what’s on the TV?”

“WELL, THERE’S METTATON’S SHOW, BUT I RECENTLY FOUND SOME VERY INTERESTING DVD’S AT THE DUMP!” Papyrus grinned, and held out a plastic case for Sans to see. 

“fluffy bunny’s big beach adventure huh? shore, that sands fine.” 

“SAAAANS!” Papyrus groaned, but he was smiling – and at the end of the day, that was all Sans really cared about. His brother alive and happy, without a threat in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> I've always really enjoyed the concept of Underfell, but I couldn't always get into the depictions. Good characters who have a polar opposite is less interesting than seeing a version of the Good characters that has been forced to adapt to a cruel world. 
> 
> So uh, this is my attempt at making that. Papyrus still wants to do good, but 'good' in this world means that you protect your family and kill others - and he's just no good at that last part. He also isn't quite aware of how other monster's perceive him, just like the canon Papyrus.  
> Sans still doesn't really care, likes to mess with people, and is more powerful than he appears ( though it'd take the end of the world to make him reveal that ) 
> 
> Let me know if you liked the story! And I could always use some help in finding tags that suit this story!


End file.
